Taking Hits Off the Source

Taking Hits Off the Source

Jan 09

I’ve found it necessary to largely ignore the doings in the DC universe since the end of 52, since the storytelling has seemed so uneven, a conclusion I derive both from personal experience (read Countdown, dropped it) and byte after byte of negative reviews from the comics blogosphereoverse.

But over at Funnybook Babylon, David Uzumeri has used Grant Morrison (writer of the impending and allegedly climactic Final Crisis) and his past works and comments to construct an entirely plausible thematic framework for everything from the retcon punch to the death of the New Gods, and it makes scary sense. It’s almost essential reading for any modern superhero comics fan, as it has meaning not just for DCU continuity junkies, but for fans of Morrison as a writer and artist.

Here’s part one of “Hits Off the Source,” and here’s part two; David promises more as the story develops, and I can’t wait to read it.

One quote, that doesn’t do it justice–DON’T ASK, JUST READ IT:

Following Morrison’s common themes, as well as certain hints put forward in Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle where the Omega Effect does not annihilate but in fact forces the target to go through an infinite number of lives, drowning him in existential pain, it is therefore highly possible given current evidence that the being bringing about the Fifth World is the Source, which is also Anti-Life. That the war between New Genesis and Apokolips was fabricated by the Source to cause humanity to grow and replace the Fourth World with the Fifth. We know humanity is the cradle of the Fifth World, from Metron’s comments in Morrison’s own JLA #41. And man, doesn’t that just sound like a Crisis.

To the extent that this is true, it raises some VERY interesting political questions about DC’s editorial team–after all, none of these ideas have ever been credited to Morrison, and Dan DiDio certainly hasn’t been bashful about trumpeting his involvement with many of the stories executing the ideas. Is there some kind of wholesale conceptual swipe at work here, where Morrison has handed over his brain wholesale to DiDio in exchange for actually getting to do all the cool stuff he’s always wanted to do with the DCU? Or am I just a gossipy ninny of a comic book nerd who likes to speculate on situations without any knowledge (first, second, third, ANY hand) whatsoever?

Probably the latter.